James Joyce and “Araby”The uses of poses and style in Joyce’s writing have been critically acclaimed throughout the world. He has been praised for his experiments with language, symbolism, and his use of stream of consciousness. He is still considered one of the great writers of his time. The view of James Joyce has been immortalized through his personal history, interpretations of his stories, and is well analyzed by the literary community. “James Joyce was born on February 2, 1882, the oldest of ten children born to John and Mary Joyce” (Araby 2). He was raised in a suburb of Dublin, Ireland called Rathgar. His family was a middle class family, but suffered from major financial decline because his father “was a drinker who wasted the family’s resources” (Araby 2). Because of the family’s money problems they moved around a lot during Joyce’s childhood. It was believed that this was what gave Joyce such insight into Dublin life which he would write about a great deal later in life. He was educated at the best Jesuit schools which were supposed to prepare him to be a priest. He had to finance his education mostly through scholarships. Joyce excelled in his education and won many awards for his work during his school years. He attended University College in Dublin. During his college years he started to rebel against his Catholic upbringing and became more disillusioned in the Church. Soon after leaving school he met Nora Barnacle, but he did not believe in the institution of marriage, so they did not marry until 1931, and only did so because he was scared that she would be left with nothing when he died. Also because they were not married they could not stay in Catholic Ireland, so they moved to Paris, France. After this point Joyce “spent most of his life in self-imposed exile “(James (Augustine Aloysius) Joyce 198) from his homeland only returning to take care of his sick mother and then leaving again. Early on he had a lot of problems getting published, so he worked odd jobs as a English teacher and a tax collector. He “remained in Paris and wrote what he called ‘Epiphanies’” (Charters 752), these were thoughts or over heard conversations that he would later use to write his fictions. Joyce moved around continental Europe and lived in a few countries. While living in Trieste, Italy, the couple welcomed two children, Giorgio and Lucia. Joyce published many stories during his life, some of the most popular being “The Dubliners” and “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”. In his later life Joyce had many problems with his eyesight and he had to have several surgeries to correct the problem. Even with all his efforts, he was almost blind before he died. “Joyce took ill while living in Zurich, Switzerland, with a perforated duodenal ulcer” (Fargnoli). He had surgery to try to fix the problem. “Initially it seemed to have been a success, but early in the morning of January 13th, less than three weeks before his 59th birthday, Joyce died”(Fargnoli). Joyce was considered one of the great writers of his time, and “even though he cut himself off from his country, his family, and his church, these three are the basis upon which he structured his art” (James Joyce)

James Joyce’s “Araby” is about a young unnamed boy who lives in Dublin, Ireland in a priest’s old house. He tells us about life on his street and in his home. He falls in love with his friend and neighbor’s, Mangan, sister, but he is too shy to spark up a conversation with her. When he finally builds up enough courage to talk to the girl, they speak about a local bazaar called the Araby which the girl desires to attend. She is unable to go because she has a previous commitment, so the boy says that he will go and get her something nice. By the time the boy gets there it was late and most of the stalls are closed, so he is not able to get a trinket for the girl. He is gravely disappointed by the situation. In Joyce’s “Araby”, there are multiple themes and symbols....

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...Character Analysis of the Narrator in “Araby” by JamesJoyce
While “growing up” is generally associated with age, the transition from adolescence to adulthood in particular comes with more subtlety, in the form of experience. James Joyce’s short story “Araby” describes the emotional rollercoaster of its protagonist and narrator - a young boy in love with his best friend’s sister - caused by the prospects of a potential future with his crush. The narrator of James Joyce’s “Araby” is an innocent, emotionally sensitive character, who takes his first step into adulthood through his heart-wrenching experience with first love.
The conflicts of “Araby” occur in the narrator’s mind, and they revolve around the narrator’s first crush, his best friend’s sister, who is only referred to as “Mangan’s sister”. The narrator was about twelve or thirteen years old at the time, and his nearing so close to adolescence could depict ulterior, provocative motives for admiring Mangan’s sister so deeply. However, as the narrator describes his feelings for his crush, we learn that his intentions are genuinely innocent, and he is simply overwhelmed with puppy love. The first encounter the narrator has with his crush leaves him nearly dumbfounded - he was utterly confused by her first words to him, and he notes that he still cannot remember his response. The narrator describes his crush’s subtle movements: “While she spoke...

...JamesJoyceJamesJoyce was born on February 2, 1882. He was born in Dublin, Ireland. James Joyce's parents were, Mary Jane Joyce and John Joyce. His family was a mid-class family, his dad had many different unsuccessful jobs and his mother was an extremely talented piano player. His best subjects in school throughout his whole life were philosophy and languages. In college many of his school papers were published in newspapers and magazines.When James graduated school in 1902 he left Ireland to live a nomadic lifestyle. He moved to Paris at the age of 20 to become a journalist. Sadly he only spent a year in France and had to return to Ireland when he received a letter telling him that his mother was dying. After his mother passed away it was not long before he began traveling again. This time he was traveling with his girlfriend Nora Barnacle, who he married in 1931. Together they moved to Austria Hungry and then moved to Rome. In Rome James worked as a banker, but he did not like it. He felt like it was a waste of his time and talent. James thought it was keeping him from his love of writing. From Rome they moved to Zurich, Switzerland. Because of the Italian war James began to work even harder on his book Ulysses. While he was writing it, it was published in a magazine. After it was published he received some...

...James Augustine[1] Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century. Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922), a landmark work in which the episodes of Homer's Odyssey are paralleled in an array of contrasting literary styles, perhaps most prominent among these the stream of consciousness technique he perfected. Other major works are the short-story collection Dubliners (1914), and the novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Finnegans Wake (1939). His complete oeuvre also includes three books of poetry, a play, occasional journalism, and his published letters.
Joyce was born into a middle class family in Dublin, where he excelled as a student at the Jesuit schools Clongowes and Belvedere, then at University College Dublin. In his early twenties he emigrated permanently to continental Europe, living in Trieste, Paris and Zurich. Though most of his adult life was spent abroad, Joyce's fictional universe does not extend far beyond Dublin, and is populated largely by characters who closely resemble family members, enemies and friends from his time there; Ulysses in particular is set with precision in the streets and alleyways of the city. Shortly after the publication of Ulysses he elucidated this preoccupation somewhat, saying, "For myself, I always...

...﻿Dena Ferguson
Instructor Ramon Guel
English 310
19 July 2015
JamesJoyce: Paralysis and Epiphany
The paralysis of life has bared the understanding of Joyce’s literary “epiphany” for many readers. James Joyce’s technique of using his characters to blatantly show readers how life could stagnate, or find “paralysis,” leaving them unopened to the great epiphanies before them was no less than genius. Joyce frequently built his plots through the real life “paralysis” of his characters, drawing readers in with the hope of a resolution to the characters dilemmas. Most readers, however, found themselves greatly disappointed in this respect. There was no big “ta da,” no beautiful happy ending, only an “epiphany”. The question is whose epiphany, the characters or the readers? The goal of this paper is to provide understanding and acceptance of James Joyce’s literary works through an explanation of the history, interpretation, and significance of “paralysis” and “epiphany.”
In order to understand James Joyce’s meaning of paralysis there is a need to examine life in Dublin during the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century. During this time, Dublin was a diverse city full of contradiction and tension. The city had little work, low wages, and rampant mistreatment of workers. Most of Dublin’s population was extremely poor and destitute. In addition to the...

...Essay
Introduction to Literature
An initiation in James Joyce’s story “Araby”
Many times in life, people set unrealistic expectations for themselves or for other people. This is not a very wise thing to do because people often feel disappointed and embarrassed for getting their hopes up so high. One good example of this is the narrator in the short story “Araby” by JamesJoyce. In his brief but complex story JamesJoyce concentrates on character rather than on plot to reveal the ironies within self-deception.
On its simplest level, "Araby" is a story about a boy's first love. On a deeper level, it is a story about the world he lives in that is full of ideals and dreams. "Araby" is a story of initiation, of a boy's quest for the ideal where the quest ends in failure, but results in an inner awareness and a first step into manhood. The protagonist of the story lives through a particular sort of experience which reformulates him into a different person. He faces up the harsh reality for which his previous experience has not prepared him. The story shows how the impact of the neighborhood and culture of Dublin influenced the boy’s life ideas, and how the circumstances the boy had to face up with made the him revalue his attitude towards his life.
The story opens with a description of North Richmond Street: “North Richmond Street, being blind, was a quiet street ... An uninhabited house of...

...JamesJoyce was born in Dublin, in 1882 and subsequently became one of Ireland's greatest writers with books such as Dubliners' being hugely successful among many around the world. Still considered one of the greatest writers to this day, Joyce even succeeds in having a day dedicated to him named after one of his characters.
One of Joyce’ important traits was his ability to paint a realistic picture of Dublin through many of his stories. He believed in portraying Ireland as it really was.
The story of Araby is a portrayal of ‘first love’ and tells of a boy's powerful infatuation with a young girl whom he encounters. Joyce begins the story by creating a sense of a life and world that is both gloomy and trapped. The houses are described as having ‘brown imperturbable faces’ and when he describes one of the backrooms where a priest has died it is ‘musty’. We are being shown an unattractive and dark world.
When the girl is first introduced in the story Joyce writes of how ‘her figure is defined by the light. The girl is associated with imagery of light throughout the story, perhaps bringing warmth into his dark world almost like an angel or holy icon.
We are told of how ‘her dress swung as she moved her body and the soft rope of her hair tossed from side to side.’ Her hair is described as being ‘soft’, a word associated with comfort and tenderness. The story vividly captures the...

...Dawann Bellamy
Ms. Jennings
Eng-113
8 November 2013
James Joyce’s “Araby” demonstrates
Disappointment and Alcoholism connects to a theme of Darkness
The setting in “Araby” supports the theme and the characters that by using imagery of light, a formation of love and surely darkness. The experiences that the narrator faces throughout this story shows how humans expect way more than regular reality, and how people aren’t really caring for the boy these actions eventually show how disappointment and Alcoholism destroys the narrators desires.
Joyce goes about writing this story by using extremely dark and abstruse references to show the narrators reality of living in this gloomy town of Dublin, Ireland that is extremely vivid. For example, “The former tenant of our house, a priest, had died in the back drawing-room. Air, musty from having been long enclosed, hung in all the rooms, and the waste room behind the kitchen was littered with old useless papers” (Joyce). One can easily see that this is a dark moment that is something the boy deals with. This story explains its theme through the setting, and it brings the boys character alive as the narrator.
Darkness is a major aspect and it’s heavily used in this story with the various situations in this story,”Joyce dimly lights this psychic landscape, and hems it on all sides with a bleak darkness” (Ponder). The story starts at dusk and goes...

...INTERDICTION IN “ARABY”, BY JAMESJOYCE
Luciano Rodrigues Lima
Universidade do Estado da Bahia
Universidade Federal da Bahia
FOREWORD
Before beginning my analysis on the story, I remember a pupil that I had in a translation course, which said to have chosen the profession of her life after translating the story by Joyce. And the deposition of the pupil sharpened my curiosity on the work.
Amongst the stories of Dubliners, by JamesJoyce, one possesses special characteristics: – the way it joints the subject and the perspective of the narrator, language and symbology, the duration – it is "Araby". The story has been object of different readings, such as "a passage from the innocence for the knowledge", or "the ironic narrative of an adult on its first love", "a history on the oppression shade of the catholic church in Ireland", "the new search of the Holly Grail for the man of the twentieth century ", "the shock between the dream and reality", "the bourgeois sexuality of the boy threatened by the religion, politics and economy", (this last one of Wallace Gray) and many other possible interpretations.
The meticulous use of each word helps to construct the tone of speech, mix of ironic and dissimulated, as it used to be with every speech that approached the sexuality, in Joyce’s Dublin.
The other houses of the street, conscious of decent lives...